The present invention relates to a radial heat shield suspension system for a cryostat for a magnetic resonance magnet.
A cryostat is a containment vessel designed to thermally isolate its interior from exterior ambient temperature conditions. To achieve the desired degree of thermal isolation, multiple nested vessels may be employed with each vessel functioning at one of a sequence of temperatures, with the interior temperature of the innermost vessel being the coldest. The inner vessels need to be supported spaced apart from one another, with sufficient rigidity to withstand shipping loads yet have few physical connections between the interior vessels and the external vessels.
The innermost vessel is typically a helium vessel containing a superconducting magnet. The helium vessel is surrounded by two nested heat shields. In prior support systems the heat shields were supported from the outer vacuum vessel using thin wall fiberglass tubes with pin and clevis used to support the ends of the tubes. The tension on the support for both shields needed to be initially tensioned and tensioned again as a final adjustment. The cryostat assembly is a time consuming operation with many parts required to support the shield.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a shield support system that requires fewer parts and reduced assembly time.